Cincinnati Reds Night

With a whole bunch of Cincy beers left, we needed another Cincinnati night. Johnny decided that a Reds night was in order. Members were to use their imagination in picking beers. We started the night with Sam Adams Irish Red (5.5%)... again! This was the third time we rated this beer, prompting one angry member to exclaim, "Who's keeping track of this bullshit!" That would be me.... Julius Echter's Hefe-weiss-dunkel (4.9%) was next. This is 10pm's favorite, and it rated a good. Next was Southern Tier's Big Red (9%), a hoppy, sweet red ale that was quite good and rated a good. Red Rocket Ale (6.8%) was next. We drank this one prior to our official beginning months ago, but didn't rate it. My earliest memory was giant floaties in this beer,as if the brewmaster had hurled into the tub of hot wort, but there was none of that this time. I can't tell if this helped or hurt this beer, as it was only a so/so this time. Then there was Williamsburg Ale Werks Red Marker Ale (5%). While we love the Ale Werks guys, this was not a good beer. There was no taste, only a foul odor with faint hints of kepone and James River plough mud, fouled with raw sewage and oily residue. One member thought it tasted like Tide detergent. It sucked! Green Flash Brewing Company's Hop Head Red Ale (6.4%) was next. We think it was hopped with Columbian Gold! Very hoppy brew that made Johnny suddenly very hungry! It rated a good. Next came Christian Moerlein Lager House Helles Lager (5.2%). I love CM, but they can do better. It tasted like wet cardboard in both taste and smell, rating a SUCKS. Souther Tier's Phin and Matt's Extraordinary Ale (5.6%) followed that, but was a real downer. It was a lifeless, ordinarily bland beer, with the last sip tasting like paint thinner... It SUCKED! Who the hell are Phin and Matt, and what did they put in this so-called beer??? North Coast Red Seal Ale (5.5%) followed. This was a non-offensive, light ale, with very little taste. However, after drinking the last 2 beers, it was a decent palate cleanser. Label was cool, but the group thought that a label with a picture of a bloody baby seal being viciously butchered by an eskimo would have really made this one rock. It rated a so/so. And then there was Red Stripe Lager (4.7%). "It's Beer!...barely". It was a so/so. RJ Rockers Patriot Ale (6.0%) (what does this have to do with red beers? Who knows) smelled OK, but tasted like cider, not beer. It SUCKED. Then it was back to Cincy with the Rivertown Brewing Company's Bock Beer.(good luck finding the abv for any beer from this brewery) It was sweet, light, and just plain good. However, it was not to last... Brooklyn's Pennant Ale 55 (5%), like the 1955 Dodgers, SUCKED. Rogue American Amber Ale (5.6%) rated only a so/so. Then back to Ohio, with Elliot Ness Amber Lager from Great Lakes (6.2%). This was a good beer, and rated such. That said, lose the environmental shit. This beer was brewed in Cleveland for God's sake, a city which boasts a river so polluted that it caught fire and burned for 3 days! Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold (5.8%) also rated a good, prompting one member to remark that it was "lighter and better that that other shit". Mt. Carmel Brewing Co's Nut Brown Ale (6%) rated a good, without comment, which is understandable as this was our 17th beer of the night. Rivertown Brewery followed with their Hefe-Weizen, a so/so non-descript wheat beer. Then came Rogue to save the day. Their Kells Irish Style Lager (5.0%) was a really nice beer, rating a good, a rarity on this night, but still no RFG's. Rivertown Oatmeal Stout was a so/so. It was felt that this one was over the top, with too much carbonation, too much coffee flavor, too bitter. We finished the night with a Great Lakes Brewery's Blackout Imperial Stout (9%). This was a really damn good stout. Almost an RFG but a solid good+. And like that, Cincinnati Reds night was over, and the Cincy beers nearly depleted.